"Mastery doesn't exist". Hmm, that's a little strange. After all, we can observe examples of mastery in sports, the arts, technology, . . . The list goes on. So I'm this is the best formulation.
"Learning fades if we don't use it." I agree absolutely: use it or lose it. And you provide examples of this from your own experience, with calculus or FIFA flags. But for a while you really did have mastery!
I think we underestimate just how quickly we lose mastery. It happens much faster than we think! There's a famous quote about musical practice (attributed to many different people): "If I don't practice for one day, I notice it. If I don't practice for two days, the critics notice it. If I don't practice for three days, the public notices it."
I see your point, I think part of it is just about what exactly we mean by mastery.
What I find unproductive in education is digital tools that have a students practice a skill for 5 minutes, declare they have mastered the skill, and never return to it. Or standards-based grading systems that stamp a skill mastered after one assessment. I think the word mastery is mostly misused in education, in ways that I find really unhelpful.
"Mastery doesn't exist". Hmm, that's a little strange. After all, we can observe examples of mastery in sports, the arts, technology, . . . The list goes on. So I'm this is the best formulation.
"Learning fades if we don't use it." I agree absolutely: use it or lose it. And you provide examples of this from your own experience, with calculus or FIFA flags. But for a while you really did have mastery!
I think we underestimate just how quickly we lose mastery. It happens much faster than we think! There's a famous quote about musical practice (attributed to many different people): "If I don't practice for one day, I notice it. If I don't practice for two days, the critics notice it. If I don't practice for three days, the public notices it."
I see your point, I think part of it is just about what exactly we mean by mastery.
What I find unproductive in education is digital tools that have a students practice a skill for 5 minutes, declare they have mastered the skill, and never return to it. Or standards-based grading systems that stamp a skill mastered after one assessment. I think the word mastery is mostly misused in education, in ways that I find really unhelpful.